i have recently found cfls at my local supermarket philips tornado they use 23w of electricity and give out 125w at 1550 lumen do you think i could hook 4 or 6 up in a reflector and use for flowering instead of a hps ive seen them in cool and warm white would i use just one colour of a mixture of the 2 any replie is appreciated cheers

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i dont see why i should be the criminal
how can somethin with no recorded fatalitys be illegal

IF anything, go to the hardware store and use the 42 watt cfls. as they are more bang for your buck (usually 2700+ lumens each). soft white for flowering.

Now, for vegetative growth you should choose the 'cool white' light. This is also acceptable for flowering, but a 'warm white' light will be better as it is stronger in the red end of the light spectrum which is more suitable for flowering.

I have had one successful grow using CFLs in the 2700 range. Yes, they work but I attribute my small success to growing very close to the lights in a small space totally lined with mylar. I was using cool white light for veg and added a very small incandescent for red light flowering.
I have since moved to full spectrum and we'll see how that goes. Jury is still out on that one.
It's bright enough in my little grow space that I have to use sunglasses to tend the plant(s).
My cat, Smokey